movie reviews
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Un peu, beaucoup, aveuglément! (2015): A Wall Apart
I cannot help being disappointed, because while it does feel authentic at points, it predominantly appears trite. Maybe I should just lower my pretentious romcom bar a notch or two. Read more
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Nocturnal Animals (2016): The Story Within the Story
It is captivating thanks to the lead trio of Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon. It works visually in spite of the occasional clichés. But it’s not an even story and the mediocre writing cannot be forgiven. Implicitly, Nocturnal Animals taints itself with the muck of pretentiousness. Read more
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Afacerea Est: That’s How It’s Done (2016)
Cobileanski manages, at times, to really capture the irony and the foolishness of life in situational humour. Luckily, I was alone in the cinema and could laugh as hard as I felt like doing. Read more
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Sour Grapes (2016): Schadenfreude
Ultimately, even for someone with no taste for wine, I was excited by the end, having sat through this very particular tasting menu of intricate lies. Read more
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Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981): Pleading Death
It is only in pain and suffering that we can look into ourselves to understand how much we are willing to bear and what makes us be. Read more
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Today’s Special (2009): 1001 Recipes for Clichés
There must be stuff to like about David Kaplan’s second (and as of now last) feature length movie, yet I utterly failed to enjoy it. Sure, it digests easily, but there’s gotta be more to it than that. Read more
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Pozitia Copilului (2013): People at its Heart
What sets Netzer’s film apart from some of the other recent Romanian works of cinema is its sardonic humor which works best when it’s aimed at the characters and not at some of the pervasive practices of society. Read more
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Sieranevada (2016): A Winter Wonderland
Sieranevada feels true. It’s a bit of a nightmare, sure, but it also manages to find and weave its story with quality fabric, highlighting meaningful contrasts between society, family and the individual and their ‘forced’ cohabitation. And it is ostensibly a universal story about the inner workings of family life. Read more
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The Baby (1973): A Slight Phenomenon
The Baby goes from drama, to comedy, to thriller, to horror in a seamless manner and actually gets away with it by the end with some glorious twists to boot. Read more
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The Myth of the American Sleepover (2010): The Fetish Rises
The Myth of the American Sleepover is just a great throwback to a kind of simpler time, set in an undefined past where technology did not rule our teenage minds. It’s pure fantasy. Read more
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Moartea domnului Lazarescu (2005): A Hellish Ride
God, I know it’s a terrible thing to say, but I really loved Moartea domnului Lazarescu (The Death of Mister Lazarescu). It was such an accomplished transition for Cristi Puiu, from his earlier works like the 2001 movie Marfa si banii (with the unappealing English title: Stuff and Dough) or his slice of life short Read more
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